A White Side of Black Britain

“This book is important on many different levels and critically adds to our
understanding of parenting practices to counter racism.” - Perlita Harris, Adoption and Fostering

By opting for a series of life history interviews, Twine provides an in-depth account on their lived experience, how relationships change and how this may impact on their views. Furthermore, it provides an ongoing discussion between the researcher and her subjects which starts at the point of the initial encounter – where most qualitative research ends. . . . While being a member of a Black family is not an a priori condition for
possession of racial consciousness, Twine does show, in a thoughtful and nuanced manner, the ability for women to learn and adapt their everyday practices in order to pass on an adopted heritage.” - Jessica Mai Sims, Runnymede Bulletin

“A White Side of Black Britain is likely to become a landmark text in the fields of ‘mixed race’ and whiteness studies. France Winddance Twine offers a sympathetic and generous treatment of a complex and fraught subject, and she combines compelling, intimate vignettes and photos with nuanced analysis and thought-provoking links to contemporary debates.” - Claire Alexander, author of The Art of Being Black

“What happens to the racial consciousness of white women who marry black men and have black children? France Winddance Twine reveals through a deep and extensive ethnography with more than forty white women in such relationships how their consciousness changes, allowing them to become sensitive and adept at recognizing and dealing with racism. This is truly original research that deserves a wide readership.” - Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, author of Racism without Racists

“A White Side of Black Britain raises important questions such as how white women are raising children as members of black–white interracial families, what meanings are attributed to their whiteness and how class inequality, gender regimes and prescriptions for respectable femininity mediate the ways that white women are evaluated in transracial families. The way in which Twine features and captures the conversations in the book through language and illustrations make the book appealing to a range of audiences.” - Victoria Showunmi, European Journal of Women's Studies

“By building her argument through images, as well as statistics and anecdotes, Twine opposes nearly a century of prejudice against visual evidence within sociology. . . . A White Side of Black Britain . . . seems destined to become a landmark in the field. . .” - Charles Donelan, Santa Barbara Independent

“France Windance Twine’s A White Side of Black Britain is a lovely and important book. It is lovely because it is carefully researched, finely crafted, and illustrated with compelling photographs that add dimension to the study and its methodology. It is important because its ethnographic focus on white women’s participation in British multiracial families gives it an extraordinary vantage point from which to explore the everyday constitution and contestation of racial borders, boundaries, and identities along the double axis of class and gender.” - Elizabeth Long, American Journal of Sociology

“Twine is also an expert storyteller, and it is through the book’s richly detailed stories that she demonstrates the importance of researching transracial intimacy to gain a better understanding of race, class, and gender, along with nationalism and ethnic tensions. . . . The research strategies and microsociological dynamics that Twine has identified in this book will undoubtedly prove essential for any scholar undertaking such difficult and valuable projects.” - Erik Love, Jadaliyya